rpm --upgrade seems to parse the package list in "all or nothing" mode.
That is, if the upgrade is only applied if every item in the package list
requires upgrading. If even one package in the list is up to date, then
none of the packages in the list will be upgraded.
I feel this is incorrect behavior. This behavior makes maintenance
difficult (indendent rpm -U calls for each package), and is not in
agreement with the man page.
This behavior has the potential to be a security bug if admins still use
the upgrade option instead of freshen.
Please back port any fix to rpm version 3 machines.
Example of problem follows:
# rpm -q mpg123 make
package mpg123 is not installed
make-3.78.1-4
# rpm --upgrade mpg123-0.59r-4.i386.rpm make-3.78.1-4.i386.rpm
package make-3.78.1-4 is already installed
# rpm -q mpg123 make
package mpg123 is not installed
make-3.78.1-4
# rpm --upgrade mpg123-0.59r-4.i386.rpm
# rpm -q mpg123 make
mpg123-0.59r-4
make-3.78.1-4